The roads are frozen, slick, even dangerous.
“Anything wet could freeze again. So we have to be cognizant of that and go out and it’s going to be a salting or salt bring, operation,” Charlie Gischlar, a spokesman with Maryland State Highway Administration, said.
He says the combination of constant rain and a quick temperature drop could cause problems.
“This is the time of year that once the sun goes down, everything drops off. So we have to then be cognizant of anything wet. We have to go out, and again, retreat. Now, we can use that regular rock salt, and in some cases, we’ve been using liquid brine only in the actual operations,” Gischlar said.
Work trucks were spreading salt mixtures up and down I-83 and on-ramps, treating slick spots that were behind more than 70 accidents throughout the day.
“I think people lulled into a little bit of a false sense of security this morning, especially along the I-83 corridor. The roads were fine early this morning before 6 o’clock. So if you got on the roads before 6 o’clock, you were doing OK – about 6:30, I think the road conditions deteriorated,” Ron Snyder, a spokesman with Maryland State Police, said.
Snyder says troopers are standing by for potential accidents.
Gischlar adds it’ll take an effort from drivers, crews, troopers, even technology that reports road conditions across the state to reduce crashes, and increase safety.
“They could detect what is on that surface: is it sleet? Is it snow? It can tell all of that, also the pavement temperature and the air temperature and the percentage of salinity in the water,” Gischlar said.
